Ellagic acid and Soursop can prevent HPV infection causing cancer

A complex of Ellagic acid and Annona muricata has been shown to greatly reduce the chances of a positive Pap smear in women with HPV infection, whether or not they had cervical cancer lesions.

Annona muricatais also called Graviola or Soursop and is a fruit tree where different parts of the plant have traditional but different health benefits. It is known to have antioxidant, anti-microbial and anticancer properties.

Ellagic acid is found in fruits such as raspberries and pomegranates, and nuts such as walnuts. This bioactive compound has anti-cancer, antioxidant and antiviral benefits.

Strains of the Human papilloma virus (HPV) have been linked with an increased risk of cervical cancers in women and also throat and neck cancers in men. Vaccines have been developed to prevent infection by HPV but they are hugely controversial with a good number of cases of serious complications, illness and even death reported. The vaccines have no effect once the person becomes infected.

In this study by Italian researchers from Gynecology and Virology in Rome(1), the ‘complex’ was given to HPV-infected women who were with or without cervical lesions. This group were compared with an identical group receiving a placebo.

A positive and significant contribution was seen in the group taking the complex after both 6 and 12 months when using a Pap smear. Those receiving the complex had much higher negative scores, when compared with the control group.

The researchers concluded that there was a protective effect from the complex which could come through repair mechanisms or by causing apoptosis (cancer cell death).

Chris Woollams, former Oxford University Biochemist and founder of CANCERactive said, “This is very interesting research. Work by Dr. Daniel Nixon at the Hollings Cancer Institute, in South Carolina has previous shown that ellagic acid can prevent attacks on the p53 gene, which shuts down in cancer. Ellagic also stops viral joints with your DNA. Graviola or Soursop has anti-cancer activity but this has only been shown ‘in vitro’. It is however, a known anti-viral agent.”